Matthew Crombleholme [71] - Apothecary of Leeds

Matthew Crombleholme [Cro0071] - Apothecary of Leeds, Yorkshire.

Birth & early life :

1620 - 18th February : Mathew Cromblhoolme [Cro0071] son of Richard Crumbleholme [Cro0064] of parish of Steed baptised at Ribchester, Lancashire). (Source : Par Reg Ribchester - LPRS Vol 26)

He was third son of Richard Crombleholme [Cro0064] noted in the chart of The Dutton Family . In Matthew's will (see below), he also mentions two younger sisters Margaret C [Cro0388] and Jane C [Cro0389] which confirm their relationships.

The move to Leeds :

1644 - Severe outbreak of the Plague in Leeds - 1300 persons died. Matthew would have been 24 years old but it is not known when he moved to Leeds or what sort of apprenticeship he undertook to become an apothecary.

c.1652 - Matthew Crombleholme [Cro0071] married Mary (nee unknown) [Cro0072] (presumably in Leeds) and they had two daughters and one son (they are all mentioned in Matthew's will) Note : marriage : c 1652 ?? Matthew - 32 years and Mary 20 years - she was born in 1632 (from her death date 1706 aged 74) and was 22 when first child born.

1654 - Mary Crombleholme [Cro0258] : CFI b 30/1/1654, bap 8/2/1654 at St Peter Leeds; abode Market place Leeds. - died 20/7/1664 age 10 years. (Source : Ancestry - West Yorks Archives ref RD68/1/6 & FreeReg Yorkshire West Riding 1600-1700)

1656 - Abraham Crombleholme [Cro0257] : CFI b 7/4/1656 bap 17/4/1656 at St Peter Leeds; abode Market Place Leeds. - died 10/6/1658 aged 2 years. (Source : Ancestry ref 0599914 & FreeReg Yorkshire West Riding 1600-1700)

1658 - Sarah Crombleholme [Cro0073]:CFI b 28/11/1658 bap 11/8/1658 at St Peter Leeds; abode Market Place Leeds) (Source : Ancestry via Family serach ref 0599914 & FreeReg Yorkshire West Riding 1600-1700) Note : Her father Matthew died a few months after her birth.

St Peters Church, Leeds - ancient church was taken down in 1838 & new one built on the site.

Leeds expanded greatly in the C16th due mainly to its woolen industry. In the late C16th century, its population was about 3000 and this had doubled by the mid C17th. A Grammar school was established in 1552 and in 1626, it was incorporated and was given a corporation and mayor. Many prosperous merchants rebuilt their houses in stone. A new church, St Johns was built in 1634. The town was Royalist at the start of the Civil War but by 1643, Cromwell's army had taken it and held it for the rest of the war. A few years later in 1645, there was a severe outbreak of the plague. By the end of the C17th, Celia Fiennes recorded the town as a large and wealthy one with broad, well paved and clean streets and as having many large stone houses. Wealthy citizens could be connected to a piped water supply that was operational by 1694.

Apothecary derives from apotheca - a place where spices, herbs and wines were stored. From C13th, the name came to mean a person who stocked these items and sold them from a shop or a street stall. By the mid C17th, when Matthew Crombleholme [71] was trading, an apothecary would have been a skilled practitioner, preparing medicines for physicians and for sale to the general public and became the equivalent of today's pharmacy. Besides remedies, purges and cures, other items such as sugar, cosmetics, spiced wines, herbs and even tobacco would be sold.

A typical apothecary shop would have many rows of shelves with numerous labelled bottles and jars giving customers faith that the apothecary was a learned and trustworthy man. Up to this time, it was believed that four "humours" were to be found in the body : black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood. Matthew Crombleholme [71] died in 1658 (aged only 38) and towards the end of his life may have been aware of Nicholas Culpeper who published The English Physician in 1652 and the Complete Herbal in 1653. Culpepper became an apprentice to an apothecary after studying at Cambridge and brought new thinking to the profession.

Prior to this, the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries had been founded in London in 1617 although its origins can be traced back to the Guild of Pepperers formed in 1180.

Matthew Crombleholme [71] did not live to see the raft of new thinking of the the 1660's by men such as Thomas Sydenham, who developed the practice of careful observation, Harvey who discovered blood circulation, Hooke seeing blood cells through his microscope and Boyle, who formed the foundation of modern chemistry with his 1661 book The Sceptical Chemist.

1658 - 28th July : Sarah Crombleholme [Cro0073] born 28th July 1658* in New Chappell, Market Place, Leeds. (Youngest child of Matthew C [71]) (Source : UID C5C667D5)

Matthew's Will :

1658 - Matthew Crombleholme's Will (My ref PCC 2) : [Cro0071] source : NA Probate ref Prob/11/289)orkshire Wills Reg Peel Foilio 179)

Made 28th December 1658 in Leeds, Yorkshire; (made the day that he died)

Occupation : Apothecary (dispenser of drugs etc - see above).

Left half worldly estate to his wife Mary. (nee Mary nee unknown) - see inscription below : married before ?) [Cro0072]

Leaves the remaining half to his daughters Mary [Cro0258] & Sarah [Cro0073] (both minors).

Leaves his sisters Margaret [Cro0388] and Jane [Cro0389] 40 shillings each.

Names his wife Mary [72] as executor.

Leaves Feoffes in Trust for George ....isbee (?) and Thomas Walker both of Leeds.

Witnesses : George Baine, William Parker and Thomas Walker.

Proved in London 5th March 1658 ?????

(Note : son - Abraham Crombleholme [Cro0257] had just died June 1658 aged 2; Matthew was only 38 years old when he died.)

1658 - 28th December : Matthew Crombleholme [Cro0071] died ........"Here lyeth ye body of Mathew Crombleholm [Cro0071] of Leedes Apothecary (sic) and his son Abraham [257] who dyed 28th December 1658. Earth take my earth, Satan my sin, I leave the world my substance . Heaven my soul receive. Hydie (?) nobis eras vobis resurgemus. Here also lyeth interred the body of Mrs Mary (Brigs) [72] and wife to ye above said Mr Matt Crombleholm [71] who died 20th July 1706 aged 74." (Source : Thoresby Society - Miscellanea Vol 1 Leeds 1891 - page 166)

Note Mary (nee unknown) [72] had remarried after Matthew's death in 1658 to unknown Brigs.

1691 - 16th April : Sarah Crombleholme [Cro0073] married Thomas Crissopp (Source : UID : CBE47B36) (she would have been 33 years old) (Thomas Crissopp lived in Headrow Leeds)**

(Sarah was buried on 25th February 1735 and Thomas (snr) died 21st May 1700.)

They had three children, two of which - Robert and Ann both remained and died in England (dates ??)

Their other son Thomas Cresap born in 1694 in Skipton, Yorkshire went to North America aged 15 years as a carpenter. Later he served in the French and Indian wars, in Lord Dunmore's War and in the American Revolution (War of Independence)

** Below : 1691 : Marriage of Sarah Crombleholme [73] to Thomas Crissopp

1700 - 21st May : Thomas Cresap (snr) died (husband of Sarah (nee Crombleholme [73])

1706 - 20th July : Here also lyeth interred the body ? of Mary (nee Brigs) [Cro0072] and wife to above said Matt Cromblehome [Cro0072] aged 74. (Source : see 1658 above) Note : She was born in 1632 so would have been 74 years old.

1735 - 25th February : Sarah Cresap (nee Crombleholme) [Cro0073] died at Leeds (Source : UID 84E5F2FF)

Link for Thomas Cresap (North America)